Other Truths (2)

We are in a study of angels and we will in all likelihood if not tonight next week we'll finish the section of this study on good angels and then we'll kind of turn a corner and start talking about Satan and the evil angels and we'll spend a good bit of time on that part of the study as well So in wrapping up this section on good angels, we're kind of just summarizing some some other truths that are not a part of the general realm of the mill thing this things that we've been talking about with angels just some miscellaneous details like last week we talked about the number of angels how many there are their organization their different ranks and classes so forth well tonight I want us to talk about our attitude toward angels and then we're going to get into Genesis 6 and the sons of God issue okay But let's talk first about our attitude toward angels and I think the scriptures would Commend us to have a balance in our attitude toward angels first of all We certainly may respect and appreciate angels Um a couple of passages that indicate that first of all in Daniel Daniel chapter 8 and verses 16 and 17 on the screen This is we've looked at Daniel a number of times because so many Important truths about angels there But in both of these you'll see danger Daniel's response to the angels In this in chapter 8 I heard a man's voice from the ulye Calling Gabriel tell this man the meaning of the vision as he came near the place where I was standing I was terrified and And fell prostrate son of man he said to me understand that division concerns the time of the end So notice that Daniel is terrified and falls prostrate which means he falls flat on his face Before God the other passage is very similar in Daniel 10 another angel encounter that Daniel has While he was saying this to me I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless Then one who looked like a man touched my lips and I opened my mouth and began to speak I said to the one standing before me. I am overcome with anguish because of the vision my lord and I feel very weak How can I your servant talk with you my lord my strength is gone and I can hardly breathe I mean just you can just sense the overwhelming Impression that this angel encounter has had on Daniel He's he's finding it difficulty difficult to speak difficult to breathe He is again on his face before This angel so obviously a healthy respect fear all is is valid in the presence of angels And certainly appreciation is valid appreciation for all of their ministries that God has Granted them on our behalf They are Hebrews 114 says ministering spirits and so they are Spirit beings that God sends to minister to us as we have already seen in our study a lot of different ways So certainly we should respect respect them and we should appreciate their ministries for us But having said that the balance to that is we may not worship angels We certainly can appreciate and and respect and and Have awe and fear in their presence but we Should not worship angels and that is seen in several different ways in the Bible first of all it is forbidden By their example the example of angels themselves Just to remind you these are all passes we've looked at before remember Isaiah 6 Isaiah's vision of the throne of God and around the throne. There are syraphim there are angels who are crying Holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty and then the two worship scenes we've seen in heaven in revelation Revelation 4 revelation 5 where there are angels and living creatures One of the classifications of angels in in all three of those instances as well as many others But those were three very well-known worship scenes in heaven Angels are worshiping God Not other angels so by their example they tell us that our worship is to be directed alone To God himself But worship of angels is also forbidden not only by the example of angels, but by revelation itself I'm not talking about the book of revelation I'm talking about God's revelation his entire word His revelation of truth to us a couple of passages Exodus 20 10 commandments you're familiar with this where God makes it clear you shall have no other gods before me You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven that would cover angels right Anything in heaven or on the earth Beneath or in the waters below you shall not bow down to them or worship them and so it's quite clear the 10 commandments restricts worship to God alone also other parts of God's revelation let's go to the New Testament Colossians 2 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen They are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind We've talked about this before but Paul in Colossians is addressing a very early form of a doctrinal deviation that would later become known as Nosticism It was a group of people who Who basically had a lot of different errors, but one of those errors had to do with angels And they taught that between God and man there were a series of beings each one a little less Like God and a little less powerful than than than the one above it and those were angelic beings and finally you got down to Christ And then finally you got down below that to man Well in that scenario they would worship angels and they would boast about all their encounters With angels and all that they had seen and experienced in the heavenly realms and so forth and Paul basically just squashed that like a bug He said don't let anyone fool you with that kind of stuff And suppose worship of angels and all the stuff they've seen and heard from heaven and all of that That's that's Not what we are about and Paul says the worship of angels is not appropriate. It's a part of that kind of Fossumility and self promotion and so forth to try to make someone Look big and look very important spiritually. So worship of angels is forbidden by the example of angels And who they worship it's also forbidden by revelation and thirdly it's forbidden by their instruction I'm talking about the instruction of angels themselves two well-known passages in revelation Where John like Daniel was so overcome with the encounters he had with angels that he actually did Try to worship them in Revelation 19 verses 9 and 10 Then the angel said to me write this blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb And he added these are the true words of God At this I fell at his feet to worship him But he said to me now notice this the angel immediately says don't do that I'm a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus worship God For it is the spirit of jea the spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus and Pretty much the same thing happens again in chapter 22 Verses 8 and 9 I John and the one who heard and saw these things and when I had heard and seen them I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me But he said to me don't do that. I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets And with all who keep the words of this scroll worship God now. This is the clearest statement of all The fact that we should not worship angels But our worship is to be directed only to God so any group that exalts angels To the point that they are venerated or worshipped Is not biblical Because the Bible angels themselves Warn us don't worship us your worship God alone That's a good reminder and a good warning about Colts and false religions that place a lot of emphasis on angels certainly we appreciate their ministry to us That the things that God sends them to do for us and they are awesome beings for sure But we cannot worship them All right, so that healthy balance is good to remember comments questions before we get into Genesis 6 All right, we're gonna we're gonna finish up this part of our study by looking at a couple of passages that are troubling Trouble some I guess as far as how to understand them and when you talk about angels the passage that comes up the most as Injindering controversy is Genesis 6 and so let's look at that passage and we've looked at it Before just briefly and I told you when we were doing that when a couple of questions came up that we would at some point get into this in a good good More depth well, this is the night. We're gonna we're gonna dive into this a little bit deeper than what we have before So bear with me. We're gonna do some good old systematic theology tonight and look at various views of this passage that have been taken Some of the strengths and weaknesses of them and then try to either come to some conclusions or say Hmm, we're just not sure So we'll see where this takes us, okay? But if you're in Genesis 6 Let's just read the first four verses and then we'll start looking at the different views When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they married any of them they chose Then the Lord said my spirit will not contend with man forever for he is mortal his days will be 120 years The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them They were the heroes of old men of renown Now this is a very difficult passage and one that has as I mentioned Generated a lot of discussion and sometimes there is more heat than light On passages like this people stake a position and they say I'm going to argue for this You know with every bit of breath I've got and anybody who disagrees with me is a heretic And that's just not appropriate on a passage like this. It is difficult passage and there have been some Several views taken Obviously the essence is who are these sons of God and what is this marrying daughters of men and then who are these Nephilim And are they the product the offspring are they really giants? What what's going on here? There are basically three views and all of them have strengths all of them have weaknesses So what we're going to do is just kind of pick them apart all right and see if we find one that maybe is a little better Than the others the first view is the Sethite Canite view in other words focusing on the names Daughters of men and sons of God and tying them to the descendants of Seth and the descendants of Kane Here's the way this view Here's here's the statement of the view In the Sethite Canite view the sons of God Referred to the godly descendants of Seth Remember Seth was was the third son of Adam and Eve and they called him after the name of the Lord and and so forth after after Kane Killed his brother Abel so in this view the sons of God refer to people who are the godly descendants from the line of Seth And also the women refer To the ungodly descendants of Kane so the sons of God Are the descendants of Seth and the daughters of men are the descendants of Kane sons of God good daughters of men are bad Okay, good and evil all right now That is a very common view of this passage, but it has some very serious weaknesses Let me point out for to you the first weakness of this view is Is the Bible really saying that all the descendants of Seth were righteous and all the descendants of Kane were evil or wicked? That seems a bit extreme that there would be no wicked people found among the The descendants of Seth and no righteous people at all among the descendants Of Kane that's just raises a red flag second weakness of this view Is its view of the title or the term sons of God To take the term sons of God and refer it to godly people righteous people That's a new testament concept There's nowhere else in the Old Testament where that's really found In the Old Testament the term sons of God is sometimes used for angels But the term sons of God is not typically used for people That's a new testament concept developed by Paul particularly Third difficulty with this view is And this gets into the The understanding of the words themselves The Sethite Kaneite view takes the word men in a different sense in verse one than in verse two Now watch this Notice how it goes in verse one when men begin to increase Obviously that's talking about the human race Mankind Okay, so men in that verse means mankind in verse two then you get the sons of God saw the daughters of men and all of a sudden Men becomes just the descendants of Kane There's nothing in the text itself to warrant that kind of change Why would it mean men in general in verse one and then just one particular group of the In verse two there's nothing in either the Hebrew text or the English text that would give you any indication that they're two different meanings to that word there The fourth weakness with this view is very similar to the one I just mentioned except it has to do with the word daughters The Sethite Kaneite view also takes the word daughters in a different sense in verse one than it does verse two Again, look at verse one when men began to increase the number on the earth and daughters were born to them So obviously that's just talking about women in general Any female that was born To mankind is being talked about in verse one just women in general But then in verse two all of a sudden the word women means only the daughters of Kane Sons of God saw that the daughters of men So you're talking about only the daughters of the Kaneites Why use the term daughters to be so restricted in that sense when it obviously is not in verse one It just seems to be forced in other words the the actual text does not seem to support that view Now it's a nice little clean view that solves a lot of other problems, but the text itself just doesn't seem to support it So the Sethite Kaneite view You know, I may get to heaven and find out I'm wrong, but for now I'm going to put it in the garbage can okay? I don't think it's the right view all right The second view any questions comments before we go on Okay No, it isn't same word So there's no reason to know indication that there would be any change in meaning there Okay Sethite Kaneite be the second view is the angel view and this is probably the most common view in in the angel view The sons of God are seen as angels who Intermary with women Usually they are seen as fallen angels angels who By this very act or even in some cases before this act um Have fallen from their righteous state in heaven and are cohabiting with women on earth Now there is some support for this view there are some reasons why people do take this view It's not just coming out of left field One of the reasons why it is supported is that the term sons of God Is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to refer to angels Particularly the book of Job and this is one of the strongest supports that's often used by those who take this view um That this is the correct view That they will basically say well sons of God that's a term you find in Job for angels so obviously it means angels right I don't jump to that conclusion too quickly all right, but that's one of the reasons why this view is taken The second support for the the angel view is the unusual Progeny or descendants of children of this union verse four The Nephilim were on earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them So Nephilim who are these people Some translations just translate it giants There were giants in the land Well, here's here's the problem with that translation giants it comes from the Greek And Latin translations of the Old Testament it does not come from the Hebrew word The Hebrew word is literally the word Nephilim and that's why in IV's just put the Hebrew word in there but the Hebrew word means Fallen ones Well the idea basically is fallen So it can mean either to fall upon someone in the case of attacking someone Violently or it can refer to the nature of the person who is fallen This person is a fallen one this person is one who is is sinful at heart whose lifestyle and behavior and so forth is is I'm utterly corrupt All right, so the the literal meaning of the word is fallen one it's not giants that's not that comes from the Septuagint the Greek translation of the Old Testament and the the Volgate the Latin translation of the Old Testament That's not the Hebrew word at all. So that really doesn't hold much water It's not like okay. You've got these huge giants So it must be because angels are marrying women If normal men have been marrying women they would have been normal-sized children But you've got all these giants so it had to be angels right no Doesn't mean that at all Okay, the third reason why and this is probably the most um Popular support for the angel view and it's two verses in the New Testament We're gonna put both up on the screen second Peter 2.4 for If God did not spare angels when they sinned but sent them to hell Putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment Okay, so this passage refers to angels who sinned and did so so grievously that they are chained in darkness Jude 6 is very similar when it says and the angels who did not keep their positions of authority But abandoned their proper dwelling Those he has kept in darkness bound with everlasting change for judgment on the great day Those two verses probably refer to the same thing in fact if you compare Second Peter chapter 2 and the book of Jude they are very similar They cover the same territory And so There are those who take these two verses and say whoa whoa these are angels That's sinned in a very grievous grievous way That sounds a lot like Genesis 6 and so the connection is made Well, obviously These two verses are talking about some specific event for sure This is this is some grievous sin But it doesn't necessarily tie to Genesis 6 The word for sin is the word for transgression to go beyond God's boundaries And it simply could indicate these angels in some kind of grievous way and it's not defined what it is Went beyond the boundaries went beyond what God had set up as a boundary There's one other verse that is important. I think in this regard Demons during the the ministry of Christ Were concerned that this might happen to them Look at Luke 831 and they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss So these demons seem to to believe this is some kind of transgression that could cause The same kind of punishment at any time It's not like okay. This happened one time in human history when angels came down and cohabited with women Demons during the life of Christ seem to expect that it could happen to them too So maybe this is just in general Jude 6 and 2nd Peter 2.4 is just in general talking about any grievous transgressing of God's boundaries of holiness and righteousness and not necessarily tying into a particular sin in Genesis 6 But that is one of the main reasons for taking the angel view a fourth reason for taking the angel view is that Jude Jude in his book may imply that Sodom's sin is the same kind of sin as the angels sin If you look at Jude carefully He he says what he says in verse 6 and then he says in similar manner Sodom sin and then he says in the next verse in similar manner these false teachers that Jude is warning about Corrupted their bodies so that seems to tie The sin of angels to some kind of sexual sin at least That's the the statement of this this view or the The reasoning behind this view The fifth support for the angel view is it was a very common interpretation in the early church The early church fathers and these are pastors and theologians that wrote within a couple hundred years or so after the The New Testament was finished. This is a very popular view among them And so that's certainly the way they understood Genesis 6 So this view has some strong support for it But it also has some some major problems Okay, but before we get into those Any questions or comments am I am I losing you you tracking with me okay? You're trying well good. I'm glad to hear that Nancy. That's wonderful very Most who take the angel view do take the fact that they were already fallen angels. They were bad angels Yes, the remaining angels were sealed in holiness What what theologians refer to it as is either confirmed or Unconfirmed holiness they were unconfirmed holiness before that fall of Satan But afterwards they were confirmed in holiness. Yeah so that That would Make you question the angel view as well did more angels fall later But But though some of those who take this view would say well these were demons they were already fallen They were evil angels, but we're gonna address that in just a moment Okay, good question anything else? You waiting for the other part. I gotta keep you awake, you know, I mean Okay, okay Well, let's move on to the other part then some problems with the angel view Let me give you I gave you five supports for the angel view. I'm gonna give you five problems with that view problem number one and this is big the angel view assumes an unprovable and improbable angelic cohabitation with humans in other words is it possible for angels to cohabit with humans Jesus seems to indicate that it is not In Matthew 22 verse 30 we've looked at this verse before Matthew 22 30 on the screen at the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage They will be like the angels in heaven now If Jesus is saying anything he seems to be saying that angels have a our gender neutral and they do not marry that is part of the nature of angels they do not marry because when we are in heaven we will be uh, we will not marry or be given in marriage will be like them so that seems to indicate uh, that this could not be angels don't marry angels do not cohabit with even other angels much less humans okay, so that's a very serious weakness with the angel view so because of that and because that's almost insurmountable some who take the angel view say well maybe the the uh sons of god in Genesis 6 are really not angels but demon possessed people okay, no we're gonna address that in just a minute too but that's that's kind of a cop out but it doesn't really fit the text okay, so that's a pretty huge problem with the angel view is that Jesus seems to indicate that angels are gender neutral and do not marry at all the second problem is okay, the term is sons of god right and remember we saw that one of the supports for the angel view was that used elsewhere in the old testament for angels isn't it? yes but it is only used for good angels in Job holy angels not evil angels not fallen angels yes the term is used of angels sometimes but only of good angels okay, so that's a weakness with the angel view third weakness is look at verse three then the Lord said my spirit will not contend with or strive with or convict man forever who's god convicting about this sinful behavior? man not angels man kind so whatever's happening here god is dealing with it by judging men not angels okay, so that is a weakness with the angel view as well whatever's happening here seems to involve people and people only not angels the fourth problem with the angel view is the expression in verse two they married any of them they chose or took wives this is not a one night stand folks this is not just a brief sexual encounter this is not a temporary cohabitation this is a union that is ongoing and is it really possible for angels to have an ongoing physical union with with humans this is not just angels dropping in for a night I mean this is this is an ongoing taking of marriage so that doesn't seem to fit the angels and then the fifth problem with the angel view is the whole question of whether or not angels can enter breed with humans and that takes us all the back to genesis one it's almost like interspecies breeding okay do cows and cats breed no because genesis sets up god's creation to reproduce what's the term the Bible uses after it's kind after it's kind so I know that's referring basically to animals but certainly people reproduce too so people reproduce after their kind we've already seen that angels don't reproduce to begin with and if they did they would reproduce after their kind there's no kind of mongrel mixing of angels and humans the whole question of interspecies kind of breeding comes into play here and seems to make it quite unlikely that the angel view would be the best view now again there are lots of good people who take that view and and they would focus on the supports for the view and downplay the the negatives but I think there's some pretty serious problems with the angel view so if if the Sethite canite view is already in trash can and if this one has such serious problems are we left with any valid interpretation of this passage I think so I think there is a third view that has commended itself to many now it has it share problems but it has commended itself to many and I kind of lean this way if you can't tell already and that is the tyrant king view now I don't lean that way because of my name in fact I don't want to be this kind of king that this passage is talking about the tyrant king view basically is this that the sons of God here are referring to princes of royal families kings who begin to gather heroms for themselves by force and tyranny in other words taking women from other people taking women by force and developing heroms marrying anyone they saw that was beautiful any of them they chose I don't care if you're already married I don't care if if you belong to someone else by force these tyrant kings take whoever they want now there are some very good supports for this view and I've got 10 minutes left I'm going to give you nine supports okay nine arguments for this first of all the term sons of God okay that's the term that throws a lot of people off sons of God the book of Job or first angels got to refer to angels here what we've already seen no because it always refers to good angels not evil angels so that seems to be a problem is there another way the sons of God can be understood yes there is the term for God here is not Jehovah it is not adonai or lord it is Elohim the third and most general term for God in the Old Testament that term is used rarely but is used occasionally of humans small G gods or God it is used for instance in Exodus 21 of judges in Israel it is used in Psalm 82 of get this princes the term Elohim is used of both of those groups of men at times so it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that sons of God here could refer to people and not angelic beings at all that leads me to the second support and that is the term sons of okay we dealt with God Elohim but sons of in the Old Testament you'll often find that expression to refer to someone who manifests the characteristics of whatever they're the son of who are the son of so for instance there's a term in the Old Testament called sons of Bilal right sons of Bilal being a name for Satan sons of Satan what that means is not their literal children of Satan but they exhibit behavior that is devil-like and so they are called sons of Bilal or sons of Satan himself and there are other uses of that expression expression to refer to those who exhibit behavior of a certain person or whatever well in this case sons of God could be referring to those who manifest behavior like we're above anybody other human we can do whatever we want we're gods we're mighty we're powerful and so we can take whatever we want we can do whatever we want and that kind of behavior and attitude is sons of God little G so that expression could well refer sons of God could well refer to people third reason for taking this view is that some early translations understand it this way I mentioned you know a lot of the early church fathers took the angel view but there are some early translations of the Old Testament that refer to this as being tyrant kings rulers who forced their own way on others a fourth support is this archaeologists have discovered that quite often in the ancient Near East princes or kings were called by son of whatever God they worshiped son of Marduk son of Bale whatever God they worshiped the king was called son of that was true even in Egypt and so that is an expression that quite often in the ancient Near East refers to people fifth support for this view is that it fits beautifully with the description of these people in verse four the Nephilim or fallen ones people who fall on others violently were on the earth in those days and also after when the sons of God went to the daughters of men had children by them so in other words in this view the tyrant kings taking whoever they want for a herm and those who are born of them also feel like they are in a privileged class that can take advantage of anybody else too and notice what they are called at the end of verse four these were the heroes of old men of renown in other words these were people who had a reputation mighty men famous people you don't want to cross him because he'll slit your throat it's that kind of idea you don't want to go against this prince or tyrant king because if you go against him you're done your toast that's that's concept here the sixth support is the whole context go all the way back to chapter four and what you find is is people who are the descendants of Kane become involved in first of all city building in chapter seven or verse 17 they become involved in polygamy in verse 19 otherwise taking additional wives and then in verses 23 and 24 in the case of lomac they become guilty of tyranny in other words anybody crosses me I'm going to do better than what God did for Kane not sevenfold vengeance seventy times sevenfold vengeance now that is the spirit and attitude of a tyrant king who's going to violently force his way on other people and they're already taking more wives polygamy so that context seems to flow chapter five is just a bridge chapter listing all the generations that flows very easily into chapter six that kind of context it also number seven support is it fits very well with God's striving with or contending with or or convicting men we saw that earlier that the people that God convicts and strives with over this degradation of society is people men not angels and so this view fits that very well number eight it also explains the Nephilim these are literally from the Hebrew word fallen ones indicating either their character or their violent behavior they fall violently on people and so it explains well that word you don't have to go to the the Greek or Latin translation and get the word giants to make it fit and then if that's the case if if this view really is the best one then what about second Peter two and Jude six because that that's obviously talking about angels and it's talking about some grievous sin and boy this would really be a good candidate wouldn't it well if the genesis six context better supports the tyrant king view then you got to deal with the new testament passages on their own and not try to tie them back that's a very important principle of interpretation you don't take new testament truth and read it back into the Old Testament you let the Old Testament text stand on its own it may lead toward the New Testament but you don't read the New Testament back in to the Old Testament that's a very important interpretive principle so what are second Peter two and Jude six talking about what kind of sin did these angels sin well obviously some grievous transgression against God deserving of special punishment what was it what we just have to say we don't know we don't know what it was could it be as some have suggested that these were angels that were helping Satan lead his rebellion against God they were recruiting other angels they were involved in leadership positions with Satan in in trying to overthrow God's throne in Satan's rebellion and maybe for that reason they are deserving of special punishment we don't know all we know is that Jude six and second Peter two are talking about some grievous sin by some angels that is worthy of special punishment that's about the best we can say to try to tie it back to something the Old Testament is probably not legitimate and don't forget there were demons in Jesus day that thought the same thing could happen to them so that would seem to support this okay we've we've had an exercise in in really boring theology tonight right and that's what right Luke systematic theology is all about eight reasons for this nine reasons against it and let's wait all out figure out really is this what the text is saying that's what theology is all about it's a good exercise because it gets us deeper into the scriptures and really trying to figure out what is being said here but some of you've worked all day and you're tired I understand so let's pray by the way before we pray let me say that there are good godly people in all three of these camps that that take each of these views and so please don't leave here saying you know pastor King said this is the only biblical view and if you don't take that view then you're not biblical I'm not I'm not saying that at all I think they're good reasons to take the third view but I think it's the strongest but all of them have some difficulties and weaknesses just one of those fascinating passages is scripture all right let's pray